Class for 2013-04-01: Preprocessors

This class expanded upon the topic of backend web apps by talking about preprocessor languages - languages which compile into HTML, CSS, or JS. We'd taken a look at PHP and ERB, but we also walked through languages that look nothing like HTML (HAML), and languages that compile into CSS (Less, Sass + Compass) and JS (CoffeeScript). These languages can make your life much easier as they help keep you from repeating yourself (DRY!).

Class for 2013-03-25: Backend web development

This class was all about the seedy underbelly of web development: the backend!

I know we already have a backend class here at Noisebridge, but this one was tailored toward frontend developers wanting to get a taste of how things come together. We spent the first half talking about PHP, then moved onto a Rails, a more complex example.

Here are the steps used for class preparation:

THE EASY WAY:

If you would like to follow along and are on Windows or OS X, the easiest option is to run a virtual machine:

THE HARDEST WAY:

Class for 2013-03-18: Version control (Git) and the command line

This class was a general overview on version control and the command line. I'd taught how to use an FTP client to upload files to the web, but the truth is that most developers don't do that anymore - rather, they collaborate with their peers by using version control systems, which allows them to keep track of their work in a reliable fashion and push it to the web.

Again, this class wasn't about web development per se - it was just an important introduction to using the command line to work with Git, one of the most popular version control systems. Everyone created their own repository and checked in their work.

We signed up for a free account at GitHub and installed Git. Those on Windows installed Git for Windows (all default options are fine).

We talked about progressive enhancement - a practice where websites are created in a layered way that makes them accessible and cross-browser friendly. We looked at two versions of an example site and demonstrated how one is outdated, and the other adheres to progressive enhancement principles. We've touched on these concepts throughout the whole class, but in this class we focused on why they're important, and what could happen if you DON'T adhere to them.

This segued nicely into a talk about browser testing - how to do it and what to look out for.

Class for 2013-03-04: CSS3

We've covered CSS3 before, but in the context of a mockup. We went further into CSS3 with a demonstration of what the new technologies are, how to make the most of them, and how to make sites using them look good in less capable browsers.

Class for 2013-02-25: Mobile websites

We took this blog and turned it into a mobile-accessible website via the use of media queries. We also talked about the rest of the world of the mobile web: user agent strings, frameworks like jQuery Mobile and Sencha Touch, and the future of HTML5/CSS3 in mobile website and app development.

Class for 2013-02-04: More useful jQuery plugins

Our final jQuery-focused class touched on a number of other common plugins that are found in the wild. We took a closer look at Bootstrap and jQuery UI, and looked at plugins that make your page look super snazzy:

Class for 2013-01-28: Sign-up forms

We continued working on our site and added a sign-up form, with validation, inside the modal. We used the jQuery Validation plugin. This is a very common request from clients and it comes in handy to know all the tips and tricks of forms and validation, and what new HTML5 elements can provide.

Class for 2013-01-14: Menus and modals

We went back to the "professional" site we'd put together a number of weeks ago and added more functionality to it with some jQuery plugins. We first made a dialog box - or a "modal" - pop up when you click the sign up buttons. We did this by introducing jQuery UI to make common web development tasks easier. We also add some dropdown functionality to our menus using pure CSS, but this can be done using jQuery UI or Bootstrap as well.

Class for 2013-01-07: AJAX

We talked about Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, a technology that allows us to talk to a server without leaving the page. jQuery makes this extremely easy. We added AJAX functionality to our app we've been building on. We used this PHP file to test it out.

Class for 2012-10-15: CSS floats

Floating is the secret sauce behind creating websites with multiple columns, navigation menus, and basically any block element that's aligned to the left or right. We learned about floats by taking a look at some examples, then took a mockup and created a site from it.

Class for 2012-10-01: CSS selectors and the box model

CSS selectors are probably the most complex part of the CSS language, so we looked at them further in-depth. We also talked about the box model, the display concept that makes words and containers on the web look like they do.